25 October 2015•Update: 28 October 2015
BEIJING
More than 120 people were injured -- 14 of them seriously -- after a high-speed ferry collided into an “unidentified object” Sunday night off the largest island in Hong Kong.
Broadcaster RTHK cited firefighters as saying that those among the 121 people who were hurt south of Lantau Island were transported to six hospitals upon being rescued and moved to piers in nearby Central district.
The South China Morning Post reported that police received a report that the ferry, which had 163 passengers and 11 crew on board, crashed at around 7 p.m. (1100GMT) while returning from Macau.
“Some people sustained injuries to their jaws, arms and legs,” the Post quoted an unnamed passenger as saying on a pier.
“Some could not even move. The lights suddenly went out. It was chaotic at first but then the passengers managed to calm down soon. Everyone was bleeding. I was injured on my forehead, arms and legs.”
After the collision, power on the ferry went out and water began leaking into the vessel.
The Post referred to television footage showing that marine police vessels moved the first batch of rescued passengers to Central piers at around 8.30 p.m.
In 2012, 39 people were killed in a ferry collided into another in one of the territory’s worst sea disasters. In February, the captain of one of the vessels was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of manslaughter and endangering the safety of others at sea.
